How do I get bitcoins?

Bitcoins are all the rage these days because their price keeps going up. Everyone wants to invest in them and earn money through them. If you have also seen how much the price of Bitcoins has increased over the past year and want to invest in them, you need to know the basics.

Every investment you make needs to be well thought-out if you want it to be fruitful for you and bitcoins are no different. There are two basic ways of getting bitcoins. You can mine them or you can buy them for people who already have them.

Mining Bitcoin

Mining bitcoin has always been the main way of getting bitcoins, though it is not viable for new entrants anymore. Bitcoin works based on a complicated algorithm which needs to be solved to create one ‘bitcoin’. You don’t need to manually solve any mathematical problem – your computer has to do it. The system has a built in limiter however – with time it keeps getting harder and harder to calculate a viable answer. When Bitcoin started you could ‘mine’ a bitcoin in a few minutes. Now it takes more than a week to mine a bitcoin.

We would not recommend mining Bitcoin if this is the first time you are interacting with Bitcoin. You have to buy specialized hardware to mine bitcoin now and you also need to deal with complicated software. If you are really serious about mining bitcoin on a major level then we would recommend working with someone who has the technical knowledge and setting up a bitcoin mining farm. However, remember that is a major undertaking that will cost you a lot of time and money.

Buying Bitcoin

The easiest way to get involved with Bitcoin is to buy them. When you buy Bitcoin you exchange your local currency for the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. In order to buy Bitcoin you simply need to go to one of the many exchanges online and create an account with them. The most popular one is called Coinbase but there are many others as well. You can simply go on the Coinbase website or install the Coinbase app – or do the same with any other exchange.

Once you have made an account with an exchange service and have provided your bank details you will be able to buy Bitcoin. Many people think you can only buy 1 bitcoin (which is priced too high right now) and stay away from bitcoin. This isn’t true at all, as most exchanges allow you to buy a fraction of a bitcoin as well.

These are the two main ways you can get Bitcoin. If you are new to the world of Bitcoin we recommending buying a little first, only spend a few hundred dollars at most. Once you get a better understanding of the Bitcoin market you can set up a mining operation or buy more.